Who are the best players YOU have ever seen?

Who are the best players that you have ever seen live? (on television counts) ~ i.e. the best players of your lifetime. *And I'm talking about who was the best at their best here - - who was the best in their prime.

I was born in 1987.. I think I probably started recognizing what I was seeing wrt sports when I was about 5.. So, I'm making my cut-off 1992.

STARTERS:

C: S. O'NealPF: H. Olajuwon

...Shaq in his prime was perhaps (along with MJ & LeBron) the single most dominant individual player I ever saw. He had short-comings, sure; but still - DOMINANT. He took three franchises to NBA Finals. And Hakeem was the only guy I ever saw get the best of him (albeit, when Shaq was just entering his prime). I know the Dream wasn't a PF, but he sure as hell could've been if he was paired up with a big(ger) center (ala Duncan with Robinson). I'd certainly rather have him as my second big man on the court than anyone else.

SF: L. JamesSG: M. Jordan

...So obvious that it's not really worth talking about.

PG: C. Paul

...My point guard picks will be controversial. I missed Magic and Zeke's primes, so I didn't include them in the process. Stockton - I know his rep. I know he was great. I know his statistics. But I just never saw it. Watching those Finals against Jordan, I just didn't see that scary of a guy. I didn't see a guy who completely changed the game (as I believe CP3 does). I just saw this little guy who dribbled up the court slow, passed the ball off to his HOF big man, hit some open shots, did smart things, tried hard on D. Never won. Nash won those two MVP's.. buuut, I think he was a little overrated too. Bloated statistics in PHX under Dantoni. Bad defender. Never won anything. People will want to go with Payton or Kidd - and while they were great players, and outstanding defenders, I just never saw either as game-changers. Neither ever won either. Paul. I've just never seen an athlete quite like him at the position. I've never seen someone who was such a great ball-handler at full speed. Who was such a great facilitator. Who was so creative. I know he hasn't won anything yet either.. but what can I say, I see what I see.

BENCH:

C: D. RobinsonPF: T. Duncan5TH BIG: D. Nowitzki

...Some tough calls. Robinson and Duncan were no-brainers for me. Robinson was an (advanced) statistician's dream. A FREAK if you're looking at him in that light - which I do think has some validity. A winner, great defender, teammate and all of those important things as well. Duncan too, with his 4 rings, is a shoo-in. The 5th big man was tough to pick though. I had to leave some great, great players off. Malone. Barkley (I caught the end of his career in PHX). Garnett. I ended up going with Dirk over them, essentially, because he won a championship and the others didn't. I know Garnett's got rings, but he didn't win that thing on his own like Dirk did. Dirk was damned good in his prime. Damned good.

SF: K. BryantSG: R. Miller, A. Iverson

...Some tough calls here too. Kobe and IV3, I thought, were somewhat sure things. And I don't really have much hesitation about Miller's inclusion either (he was just plain DEADLY). But... Tracy McGrady, in his prime (please remember) was an absolute BEAST. K. Durant IS just a freak of ground-breaking nature. G. Hill. V. Carter. D. Wade. D. Wilkins. All such tough cuts. Tough, tough cuts.

PG: T. Parker

...I spoke on the other guys already. I know I'm not gonna get a ton of agreement here, but I just love how T. Parker plays the game. I think he's the most underrated player of my lifetime. He runs that team, very, very well. A basketball genius.

I was born in 1987, so I'm a little fuzzy through the early to mid 90's. Here we go though, my 15 man team...

STARTING LINEUP:

C: S. O'Neal. No question about it. Next to MJ with the Bulls, Shaq with the Lakers was the single most dominant player I've ever seen.

[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri][FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri][FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000]PF: L. James. Just an unbelievable athlete, and an unbelievable talent. Not a PF, but he could be, and he deserves to be in this starting lineup for sure (even though I hate him).[/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR]

SF: K. Durant. A hair under 7-feet tall and he might be the best shooting-guard in the league right now. A truly remarkable athlete with truly remarkable talent (remember, I missed Bird).

SG: M. Jordan. Hate to say it, but the single best player I ever saw (remember, I missed the Kareem days).

[FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000]PG: K. Br[FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000]yant. Not a PG - I've got several out of position here - but he could handle it. Probabl[FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000]y the third best pla[FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000]yer I've ever seen (remember, I missed Magic).[/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri][COLOR=#000000][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT]

The old thread turned into a best players of all-time thing. I wanted to see something more modern.

I guess I could've bumped and revived the old thread.. but what's the difference? Takes up the same amount of space on the front page. (I would delete some of those other threads if I could, however..).

The old thread turned into a best players of all-time thing. I wanted to see something more modern.

I guess I could've bumped and revived the old thread.. but what's the difference? Takes up the same amount of space on the front page. (I would delete some of those other threads if I could, however..).

Click to expand...

We're mostly self-policing on what you post and where you do it, but creating the exact same thread twice is probably going too far. The original thread is only 3 months old. Creating many threads about different topics is generally fine, because if it's an interesting topic, people will post. If it's not, people won't. Creating a duplicate of an existing thread, especially a recent one, is just confusing.